The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-04-28
Wanted-A Sky Line.
Editorial, in the Independent.


children of this world. We remember
once to have heard old DR.. Colver say,
with great sigh of relief, after return.
ing from three months visit to Eng
land, during particular foggy season :
"Thank God for an atmosphere where
one can tell which is cloud and which is
sky. For three months I have been in
England, and in all that time could not
be sure in a single instance where the
clouds left off and the sky began" That
is too much the case with the Church
and the world, as at present seen. The
Church, as spiritual body of men and
women, is not clearly marked of from
the world. The lines of each iuterpen-
trate far into the region Of the other.
The world is in the church, and the
church is in the world. There are, of
course, many individual Christians whose
lives and characters are 80 distinctly
Christians that no one questions on
which side of the moral conflict now 60
ing on among men they are; but this is
not true of the church as a whole. Yet
this is just what is most needed, and
what our Lord expected the church to
show forth.
We need as distinct a sky line around
The spiritual organization as there is
about the building in which the church
worships. Passing through any city or
village the traveller has no difficulty in
picking out the churches from other
buildings. Church architecture has q
distinct character. Of old it was in.
tended to symbolic the faith, thoughts
and aspirations of the worshipers. It's
cruciform plan told of the cross as the
foundation of the Christian hope, and
every stone was built upon that cross,
until the whole building was one grand
expression Of it. It's spire told of the
heavenly aspiration of the church wor'
Shipping within. Strength and beauty,
purity and hope, were wrought into its
columns, buttresses, tracery, and orna
mentation.
Is not this what is expected of Chris.
tians? Are not they peculiar people /;
q spiritual temple builtup unto the Lord ?
Is it not said of them that though they
are in the world and yet moi of it? are
they not designated by the Master him
self "the light of the world" and bidden
to "shine" in the midst of crooked and
perverse nation, "holding forth the word
Of life7" Can this be done unless there
is clear and marked difference between
the church and the world, not in any
mere way Of creed assent or formal
church organization, hut in the sharp
and distinct lines Of life. Every Chris:
tiau life ought to be an illustrated scr
mon; every Christian man and woman
ought to be "a city set on hill" and SO
shining that all men may see, not them,
but their good works, and so be compell-
ed to glorify God. If we go back to the
time when our Lord came into the world,
we must see how sharply he stood out
against the murky world-life, and not
less so against the formal religious life of
the Jews. A cleant.cut line divided him
and his disciples from the rest Of the
world. He was light so intense that
worldliuess and wickedness could, not
come near him without being exposed.
His disciples were ordained" to the
same. mission in the world.
hia nor 30 n0w. rs q 1Nse, ASs Ssssa>
cult TO distinguish between the respecta'
BILE unbelievers who "patronize" the
church with their presence, and the
church itself. And, again, it is difficult
to discriminate between the church going
unbeliever and the upright men of the
world, who are content that their wives
and children should be Christians, while
they themselves hold aloof; and this
more positive form of unbelief is shaded
off into pronounced in6delity, and thai
again into ribald opposition to all that il
good and seemly. Once the church anc
the world walked far apart; but now, a'
a rule, they are hand and glove in soeia
and business life, and mixed up in al
the ordinary amusements which are Sc
essential to the world that knows moi
God. Christian men are as eager anc
greedy iu getting the goods of this world
are as busy in laying up treasure on the
earth, and as ambitious and determined
to be "rich," as their unbelievipg neigh
bors. The prodigal expenditures of tht
erich men" of the church on things
which make for the pride of this life arr
not more than matched by the same kint
of expenditures by worldly men. Thou
sands are squandered on the "lusts Of th'
flesh and the lusts of the eye" by Chris
tian men and women, while hundreds a
best are given with grudging hand to thu
cause of the Lord.
All these things are observed by tht
unbelieving world, and when the pastor
or some evangelist urges Christ upon the
unsaved men and women when they
meet, either in or out of the church, they
are thrown back in their teeth. "Thert
is no difference" said worldly man tt
us not long since, "between us ane
church members, save that they profess
to believe something and we do not.
We are afraid this is toe nearly the case
in many instances.
What is needed is such difference il
the temper, bearing, conduct, and aim O.
life, and in the work and walk of the
Church that all men may know that the
"Lord doth put difference between The
Egyptians and Israel" The Christian